It Had to be You

Chapter 1

Claire and her seven year old son Mason were having dinner at his favorite restaurant. Every seven-year-old's favorite restaurant was Chuck E Cheese's, so there she was at a small table making sure her son ate his slices.

He had chocolate brown hair like his father and a beautiful pair of green eyes he got from his mother. He also had freckles sparkled across his nose.

Manson liked to pinch out the pepperoni and eat it first and then pinch off the cheese leaving the crust and sauce untouched — if you could call it that.

This frustrated the redhead, he did that every time and always ended up a mess. His fingers dirty with the sauce. It seemed the tomato sauce ended all over his face and even his clothes at times, basically everywhere but his tummy.

It didn't matter how much she tried beg him to use his fork and knife to cut little pieces; just like she did with hers, and to eat the whole thing... the kid wouldn't listen.

He was as stubborn as his dad. Claire had married Manson's father after finding out she was pregnant, the marriage didn't last and they got divorced when the kid was about three years old.

He was a musician, a guitar player. His band did very well regionally and was starting to gain momentum. He was never around, always having gigs and tours.

Claire couldn't say anything about the matter; she was a workaholic. She was the morning shift manager at a prehistoric museum, but she was always engaging in all sorts of projects that kept her work hours tight.

"Manson, please." She insisted after licking her lips and reaching for a pack of wipes out of her purse.

She slid closer along their booth and started cleaning his son. "Do you want to get this to go?" She asked about the few slices of pizza that were left.

The kid nodded with a big grin while his mother cleaned his cheeks. It took Claire about five wipes to clean his face and hands.

It was until they got to the door when Claire noticed it was pouring outside. In her evening rush, between picking Manson after work and figuring out where to get dinner, she had forgotten to grab an umbrella.

Their cab was waiting for them in front of the entrance. There were at least sixteen feet between the door and the cab.

She took off her coat and held it over her head, asking Mason to stay close to her under the little tent she was doing with the coat.

"At the count of three, you run as fast as you can and jump into the back seat, okay?" Claire instructed.

She was wearing a skirt suit and high heels; how that woman would rush over the wet pavement and fly into that back seat with her toddler, was something to be seen.

They were standing under the little roof outside the door while she gathered her self together for this.

"Yes, mommy." He nodded with determination.

"One...Two...Th—"

"I got this." A man stopped her. He was wearing a raincoat, it was hard to see his face over her coat. All that mattered to Claire at the moment was that he had an umbrella over their heads and was willing to walk them over to their cab.

The three of them rushed and he stood there holding the umbrella over the little duo until it was safe to close the car door behind them.

He didn't wait for Claire to be able to thank him, he had to rush back to his own cab which waiting for him behind hers. His little girl was waiting for him there, too.

At home, it was a struggle to get Manson in bed. Claire always made sure he would brush his teeth and wore clean pajamas to bed. It almost felt like he wore a fresh pair every night, he was always spilling something over himself — or her, for that matter.